Midge and the Pot Of Gold

(A Children’s Story)

By

Pamela Perry Blaine

©March 2005

Early one spring morning Midge and Glen were sitting underneath an old

wagon playing “make believe.”  Midge had her doll that Grandma Rosa had

 made from an old sock and Glen was busy positioning some old boards

 in a square to keep his pet frog, Jimmy, from hopping away.

  “Move over, Midge!” Glen ordered her to make room for one more board. 

About that time big raindrops began to pelt the wagon and they saw

Grandma running in from the garden with her apron full of garden seeds.

  She smiled as she saw the children under the wagon and since it was still a good distance to the house, Grandma got down on her knees and crawled

under the wagon with Midge and Glen.  Midge began to giggle because

 she thought Grandma was too big to get under the wagon but she did it anyway. 

“Well, it looks like it won’t rain for long,” announced Grandma cheerfully,

 looking toward the sky and then she frowned when she saw Jimmy.

“Now Glen, put that frog back in the bucket right now!”

“Why? Grandma, he likes the rain.”  Glen said.

“Yes, I know but I’m not overly fond of frogs and besides

he’ll get away from you”

Glen reluctantly obeyed and just about that time the little

 shower was letting up and the sun was beginning to peek out

frombehind the dark clouds. 

“Oh Grandma, look at the pretty colors in the sky!” Midge exclaimed.

Grandma turned to look and said, “Oh what a beautiful rainbow!”

“What is it, where did it come from?” asked Midge who had never seen a rainbow before.

Glen looked at Midge and sighed saying, “It’s called a rainbow.

 Everybody knows that rainbows happen because of Leprechauns.”

Grandma began to laugh saying, “Grandpa has been telling

you stories again!”

“Tell me, tell me too!” pleaded Midge.

“Well, Midge,” Grandma began her story, “ Grandpa likes to tell stories

about the land where his family used to live. It is a place way across

the ocean called Ireland, and there are many stories

about the Little People.” 

“Little People?” Midge questioned.

“Yes, they say that many years ago in old Ireland there lived the

 Little People, or Leprechauns.  They say they are very tiny, less

 than two foot tall!  They hide from us because they think that

humans are greedy and foolish.  Leprechauns look like little old men

 and they dress like shoe cobblers.  They wear old-fashioned green

clothes, a cocked hat, a cobbler’s apron, and buckled shoes.  They

 make shoes for themselves and all the other Little People. 

The Leprechauns are always busy and have to make a lot of

shoes because they love to dance so much that they wear their

shoes out very quickly.    Grandma whispered, “If you listen

carefully, sometimes you can hear the tap-tap-tap of their

tiny little hammers in the forest.”

“Are there Leprechauns in Oklahoma, Grandma?  Are there girl

Leprechauns too?” Midge asked excitedly.

“Naw, there ain’t no girl Leprechauns, you silly ole girl.” Glen moaned.

“Well, now, you just never know about Leprechauns and where

they might turn up, even right here in Oklahoma,” Grandma announced

as she frowned at Glen because he knew better than to be rude to Midge. 

Grandma was getting caught up in her story as she continued, “You see, Leprechauns have pots full of gold and they hide them, Grandma

whispered mysteriously.  They are always moving their pots of gold

because the end of the rainbow marks the very spot where the

pot of gold is hidden.  Why, sometimes they spend the whole day just

moving their pots of gold to new hiding places so they won’t be found!”

Midge and Glen had been listening intently as they stared at the

 rainbow spread across the sky before them.  About that time,

the rain stopped and Grandma got up, brushed herself off, and

said, “Enough stories…I have work to do.  As soon as the rows

 are ready, you two can help plant the seeds.”   Grandma crawled

out from beneath the wagon and headed back toward the garden.

Grandma had no more gotten back to the garden when Glen pulled

on Midge’s arm and said, “Come on, Midge!”

“Where to?”  Midge asked.

“The rainbow, silly, we’re gonna find that pot of gold and buy Grandma

 that blue calico she always looks at in the store when we go to town.”

“Grandma says not to call me Silly.”

Glen laughed and put his arm around Midge and with a twinkle in his eye

he said, “Okay Silly, I won’t call you Silly,” and then he took off running.

With that, Midge took off after Glen threatening to tell Grandma as they

started out across the prairie toward the end of the rainbow.  They ran

and ran but the rainbow was further away than it looked.  Finally, they

got to where they thought the rainbow should be but the

rainbow had faded away.

“Durn it, it’s gone!” Glen exclaimed. 

“The Leprechauns must have moved it.” Midge said sadly.

Glen took Midge protectively by the hand and turned back toward home

 both of them looking forlorn. The prairie grass was so tall that Midge

 couldn’t see over it so she got behind Glen and held tightly to his

shirttail.  They walked and walked for what seemed like forever to Midge.

 “I’m tired, are we lost?” Midge sniffled.

“No we ain’t lost!” Glen said quickly, even though he wasn’t quite sure.

Just then, Midge could hear the grass going “swish-swish, swish-swish”

and then a tap-tap-tap sound.  “It’s the Leprechauns!”  Midge whispered

in fear as she grabbed Glen around the waist and hid her

face behind his back.

Midge and Glen stood motionless when all at once they looked up and

there was Grandma!  What a relief!  They were glad it was just the tools

 in the pockets of her apron that made the tapping sound because

neither of them were quite sure they were ready to meet

up with a real Leprechaun. 

Midge was so overjoyed to see Grandma but then she saw that

Grandma’s face looked very angry. “What do you mean going off like

 that,” she shouted.  “You know you aren’t supposed to go this far

from home!  What on earth were you thinking?  You must be

two miles from home!”

“I’m sorry,” Glen said quietly, deciding to take the blame.  “We...we...were

just looking for the pot of gold,” he sputtered, “and…and we were

going to buy you the calico with it.  We didn’t know it was so far away.”

Midge began to cry.

Poor Grandma, she was so angry and yet so relieved that they were

both all right.  Grandma also felt bad because she remembered that i

t was her fault for telling them the story about the Leprechauns and

 the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Grandma sighed and kissed them each and then took them by the hand. 

As she walked back toward the house with a child on each side, Grandma explained that the pot of gold was just a story.  She then told them the true meaning of the rainbow and how God had put it in the sky after the flood to

let them know He would not destroy the earth again by a flood.

 “The rainbow is God’s reminder… like a promise, a covenant,

that God made to Noah and to all of us.”  Grandma explained as she

leaned down and took their faces in her hands, “My sweet children,

Grandma continued, “God said, “ I have placed my rainbow in the

clouds. It is the sign of my permanent promise to you and to all

the earth.” God wanted to show us how much He loved us so he

put the rainbow in the sky and that, my children, is worth more

than any old pot of gold.”

By

Pamela Perry Blaine

©March 2005

May the roads rise to meet you.
May the wind be at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face;
The rain fall soft upon your fields
And, until we meet again,
May God hold you in the palm of His hand.

(An Old Gaelic Blessing)